Page 33 - The Indian EYE 092526

CANADA Newsline SEPTEMBER 25, 2026 | The Indian Eye 33

A Bride Haunted by More Than

Wedding Day Nerves

BY ROHAN RAI also discovers unexplained scratches
on her stomach and begins to feel as
Toronto
if something is moving underneath
angladeshi filmmaker Rubai- her skin.
yat Hossain, known for Made Zaineen is a modern woman
Bin Bangladesh, returns with a preparing for what appears to be
new film that explores the pressure a perfect marriage. Yet something
placed on women as they prepare for mysterious seems to be troubling
marriage. The film premiered at the her. As her wedding day approaches,
Toronto International Film Festival Zaineen must face not only her fears
(TIFF) in September. and doubts, but also the mysterious
Known for making films about force that appears to be trying to tell
women and the challenges they face, her something.
Hossain’s latest film looks at the ex- The film explores the pressure
pectations placed on brides to look Courtesy TIFF women face to look perfect and meet
and behave perfectly on their wed- society’s expectations. However, the
ding day. The story follows Zain- supernatural elements add a confus-
een (Zaineen Chowdhury Karim), question: “Happy?” Looking at her- and has trouble sleeping. At first, ev- ing dimension to the story. It is often
a young woman preparing to marry self in the mirror, dressed in heavy eryone tells her that these are normal difficult to tell whether the bride is
Aarman, a handsome and wealthy makeup, carefully styled hair and jew- worries for a bride. simply struggling with the stress and
man whom everyone sees as the per- ellery, Zaineen struggles to answer. But then strange things begin to expectations surrounding her wed-
fect husband. As the wedding gets closer, her happen. Zaineen starts having dis- ding, or whether a deeper, mysteri-
During a visit with a bridal con- worries begin to grow. She becomes turbing dreams and visions of cat- ous force is pushing her to question
sultant, Zaineen is asked a simple concerned about her weight and skin fish, snakes and bloody bodies. She the life she is about to enter.

HALF Brings Vampires,

Action and Revenge to the Screen

BY ROHAN RAI of their unusual background, the
twins have special powers and do not
Toronto
suffer from some of the usual weak-
win vampires take on a gang nesses associated with vampires.
of violent highway robbers The story takes place on the
Tin HALF, a new Indian action lonely roads of the Rajasthan des-
film that combines horror, martial ert. While travelling through the re-
arts and the western genre. The film gion, Ethan and Ivy are attacked by a
was presented at the Toronto Inter- group of local robbers. The attack is
national Film Festival (TIFF) brutal, and the twins are badly beat-
Written and directed by Sam- en. But they survive.
jad, the film stars Ranjith Sajeev and After recovering in the darkness
Aiswarya Raj as twins Ethan and Ivy. of night, Ethan and Ivy set out to find
The film’s action scenes are choreo- the people who attacked them. What
graphed by Very Tri Yulisman, who follows is a violent fight for revenge
has worked on films such as The as the twins use their supernatural
Raid 2 and The Night Comes for Us. powers and fighting skills against the
HALF is inspired by the “curry gang.
western,” a style of Indian filmmak- Courtesy TIFF With its desert setting, vam-
ing that became popular in the 1970s. pires, martial arts and bloody ac-
These films mixed the style of Amer- tion, HALF offers a fresh take on the
ican and Italian westerns with Indian Indian western. The film combines
stories and settings. Many featured Samjad gives the genre a new who are half-human and half-vam- traditional Indian storytelling with
bandits, known as dacoits, who ter- twist by adding vampires to the story. pire. Their mother was human and elements of horror and international
rorized rural communities. The film follows Ethan and Ivy, their father was a vampire. Because action cinema.

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